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It's Carlsen and Aronian

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen has a habit of finishing strongly in major tournaments. Here a last round win against Hikaru Nakamura enabled him to catch the previous leader Levon Aronian, who drew his game. Aronian had to defend carefully in a long game in order to avoid defeat, and now provisionally becomes the World No.2 for the first time.
The other winner was Peter Svidler who beat an out-of-sorts Vladimir Kramnik.

In the key match for the title, Ian Nepomniachtchi sacrificed the exchange for an attack. The pre-round leader, Levon Aronian, was able to exchange queens, but with one pawn plus a good bishop pair in an open position the young Russian had enough compensation. Nepomniachtchi pressed, and won a second pawn, but by this time Black's rooks were well able to meet any threats. Aronian ultimately gave back the exchange for a dead drawn rook endgame.

The winner of Sergey Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk had a chance to join the lead, so both players played aggressively. Ivanchuk grabbed his opponent's b-pawn, whereupon Karjakin engineered tactical chances against Black's weakened kingside. Once the queens came off, Black's extra pawn gave him a pull, but his pawns were split and Karjakin was able to blockade.

Viswanathan Anand was able to draw with Black against Boris Gelfand, making it nine out of nine! He had the slightly inferior pawn structure, but was sufficiently active to obtain full equality.

In the all-Russian battle, Vladimir Kramnik played an ambitious combination where he gave up two pieces for a rook, the idea being to leave his opponent discoordinated. Nevertheless, Svidler found the time to snatch the a-pawn and gradually organize his forces. Later the passed a-pawn proved to be a decisive advantage.

Magnus Carlsen undertook to snatch the American's e-pawn, at the risk of exposing his king. However there was no real attack and Hikaru Nakamura found himself obliged to exchange queens. He sought solace in an opposite-bishop endgame a pawn down, but had to give a second pawn to release his king. This proved to be too much, and Carlsen was able to win.

Here is a summary of the final round games:

White

Country

Rating

Result

Black

Country

Rating

Moves

Opening descri ption

Boris Gelfand

ISR

2744

0.5-0.5

Viswanathan Anand

IND

2811

29

Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4

Hikaru Nakamura

USA

2758

0-1

Magnus Carlsen

NOR

2826

58

Queen's Indian Defence 4...Ba6

Ian Nepomniachtchi

RUS

2730

0.5-0.5

Levon Aronian

ARM

2802

85

Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4

Peter Svidler

RUS

2755

1-0

Vladimir Kramnik

RUS

2800

44

English Opening

Sergey Karjakin

RUS

2763

0.5-0.5

Vassily Ivanchuk

UKR

2775

42

Sicilian Kan

The final table:

Rank

Name

Country

Rating

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Points

Expected

score

Elo +/-

1-2

Levon Aronian

ARM

2802

*

½

½

½

1

½

1

½

½

½

5½

4.9

+6

1-2

Magnus Carlsen

NOR

2826

½

*

½

½

½

½

½

½

1

1

5½

5.2

+3

3-5

Sergey Karjakin

RUS

2763

½

½

*

½

½

½

½

½

1

½

5

4.3

+7

3-5

Ian Nepomniachtchi

RUS

2730

½

½

½

*

½

½

½

1

½

½

5

3.9

+11

3-5

Vassily Ivanchuk

UKR

2775

0

½

½

½

*

½

1

½

½

1

5

4.5

+5

6-7

Viswanathan Anand

IND

2811

½

½

½

½

½

*

½

½

½

½

4½

4.9

-4

6-7

Peter Svidler

RUS

2755

0

½

½

½

0

½

*

1

½

1

4½

4.2

+3

8-9

Vladimir Kramnik

RUS

2800

½

½

½

0

½

½

0

*

½

½

3½

4.9

-14

8-9

Boris Gelfand

ISR

2744

½

0

0

½

½

½

½

½

*

½

3½

4.0

-5

10

Hikaru Nakamura

USA

2758

½

0

½

½

0

½

0

½

½

*

3

4.2

-12

At the top, Carlsen's small rating gain is significant, as he is (provisionally) at a higher rating than ever before.

Aronian's six point gain, allied with Anand's four point loss, should see the Armenian overtake the Indian and thus become World number 2.

However, these observations may only be of temporary value, as they could well change in the London Classic which takes place next month.

An excellent coming of age result for Ian Nepomniachtchi who, despite being the lowest ranked, didn't lose a game.

Lower down, after a poor start to the event, Boris Gelfand finally escaped from last place due to Hikaru Nakamura losing two of his last three games.

The biggest loser in the Elo points stakes however was Vladimir Kramnik who shed 14 points and so loses his 2800 status.